Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Debbie Williamson splashed out on a villa with a swimming pool in Spain and deposited £30,000 into a Spanish bank while pocketing the benefits, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

The 45-year-old from Barnsley, then 'lied and lied and lied' when authorities launched an investigation.

Jailed: Debbie Williamson, 45, of Barnsley, splashed out on the villa and deposited £30,000 into a Spanish bank while claiming benefits, Sheffield Crown Court heard

The court was told how she had insisted she was not living full time in Spain, prolonging the probe into her circumstances.

During her time in Spain she falsely claimed £41,800: £28,558 from income support from the Department of Work and Pensions; £11,142 in housing benefit and £2,100 in council tax benefits from Barnsley Council from 2003 to 2008.

Oliver Thorne, prosecuting, said Williamson successfully applied for income support in March 2003 and bought her property in Valencia just two months later - calling it Villa Jessica after her daughter who was then 13.

The DWP launched an inquiry after an anonymous tip off claiming Williamson was living in Spain with husband Ian and running a bar.

High life: Williamson had denied living in Spain but was discovered to have built a villa in Valencia

She never bothered to notify the authorities of her change in circumstances, the court heard.

Williamson was arrested in January 2009 and declared she had never lived in Spain and that her daughter went to primary school in the UK.

But she had made regular cash withdrawals in Spain and booked numerous flights to Spain for her family.

It was then established she owned the plot of land in Valencia containing a single-storey villa with swimming pool.

Spanish school records confirmed her daughter had been educated in Spain.

Records from the girl's school in England showed she had been taken out of the school in March 2004 because he family was 'emigrating to Spain'.

The court was told Williamson, who admitted 10 counts of fraudulently obtaining benefits and sobbed during the hearing, had only repaid £45.

She was jailed for 18 months.

Recorder of Sheffield Judge Alan Goldsack QC said: 'There you were enjoying yourself in Spain while people here were having tax taken off them which was going to fund your lifestyle.

'The immediate victims were Barnsley Council and the DWP but the real victims, of course, are your fellow citizens.

'For five years until the authorities were tipped off, you were claiming benefits you were not entitled to.

'For most of that period you were actually living in Spain. It seems unlikely any of this money will be recovered for the taxpayers.'